QD Leap: Part One Into The Night
by Lady Aurora
Summary: He's still leaping! He's leaped and he's... himself? Please R&R!
1. Part One

DISCLAMER: All characters belong to Paramount Studios and Bellasarius productions. Used without permission but with lots of respect! 

NOTE: I never liked the way they ended the series, although I did love the episode, so I decided to continue it on. Sam is still leaping, he's still married to Donna, Al is still the Observer and was married to Beth. That's all I'm going to tell you. *grin*

Quanta-Dimensional Leap  
Prologue

* * *

  
The blue white light of the Leap started to shimmer around Sam announcing that he was about to arrive into his next Host. He started to brace himself for the Transition when something went wrong. 

Horribly wrong. 

The tingling sensation that usually accompanied a Leap turned to agony and it felt as if his body was being ripped apart from every direction. His mind felt like it was exploded in a shower of sparks as the Quantum state in which he traveled twisted and seemed to almost turn him inside out. Bright white light burst around him leaving a sea of azure sparkling around him. A force seemed to reach and yank him out of the azure field. His body convulsed as wave after wave of pain wracked his body. The azure became an awful blackness as he was drawn ever faster downwards. 

Suddenly a Light blossomed into being above him, grabbing hold of him and halting his downward progress. Slowly it started to draw him upwards and away from the darkness. The darkness seemed to growl as Sam was drawn away from it and reached out once again to reclaim its prize. It grabbed Sam by what he perceived to be his arm and tore him away from the light. It quickly surrounded him like the tentacles of a giant squid. Sam's whole body felt as if it were on fire. More waves of hot agony shot through him.

~SAM!~

The darkness drew him further downward into its lair.

~ Dammit Sam, fight! ~

Hearing his name being called by a familiar voice Sam, started to struggle against the darkness that held him. The darkness responded by tightening its hold around him, almost suffocating him.

~ Come on kid! You can do it! ~

He struggled harder, but knew he was losing the battle as he continued to fall into the unending darkness.

~ Good-bye Al ~

~NO!! SAAAAMMMMM!!!!~

The darkness drew him downwards and he began to hear other noises as the sound of his friend died away. Soft chitterings, slitherings, raspings. Sam was filled with panic and thrashed wildly in his captor's grip. He sent out a silent plea to God, Time, Fate whatever. To get him the hell out of this!!

The Light once again flared into being above him. The darkness around him hissed and growled as it reached down and surrounded him. As the Light swept over him, Sam felt the darkness shrink away, and then the Light swiftly pulled him away. 

--.

He found himself kneeling on a floor. His head was pounding like a timpani drum, gasping as he desperately tried to draw in more air, and his stomach was heaving from the overwhelming sense of nausea that gripped him. Someone was kneeling beside him, murmuring comforting words while trying to keep him from falling completely over. He looked up and caught a reflection in a mirror almost directly in front of him.

It was his own.

"Oh boy" he gasped just before he fell into unconsciousness.  


* * *


	2. Part Two

DISCLAMER: All characters belong to Paramount Studios and Bellasarius productions. Used without permission but with lots of respect!

Into the Night   
Chapter One

* * *

Project Quantum Leap  
Stallions Gate, New Mexico  
May 1, 2001

  
Rear Admiral Albert Calavicci, Administrator and Observer for Project Quantum Leap, was enjoying a leisurely breakfast in the cafeteria. The past ten days had been very hectic at the Project. It had started with a surprise inspection from the Committee, making himself and the rest of the Project heads to scramble to compile the necessary reports, then having to answer question after stupid question about the last series of Leaps and his Observations of Dr. Samuel Beckett's actions. 

Almost immediately after they left, Ziggy, their parallel-hybrid and (somewhat) egotistical computer, had announced that Sam had Leaped into another life and urgently required his assistance. 

It had taken almost four days of their concentrated efforts to make sure that a sadomasochistic serial killer was caught. Al shuddered when he remembered the events of that Leap, his own experience as a POW almost paled in comparison of what Sam had gone through as the killer's latest victim. Al had stayed in the Imaging Chamber with Sam almost constantly - being there for Sam, being the little voice of sanity in an insane situation. He hoped that the Leap would swiss cheese Sam's memory enough so that Sam would forget the whole encounter. 

After making sure that Sam had safely Leaped out, he'd stumbled out of the Imaging Chamber, tossed his handlink on the console in the Control Room, and gave orders that he was not to be disturbed for anything. Unless, of course, that Sam once again had Leaped into a new Host. Once he finally made his way through the huge complex that was Project Quantum Leap to his quarters he'd collapsed on his bed, fully clothed, and slept for a full two days.

Al had just finished his breakfast and was about to light up one of the cigars that he kept in his shirt pocket when a female voice asked, "Can I join you Al?"

Al looked up and grinned, "Sure Donna, take a seat. I always welcome a beautiful woman at my breakfast table."

Dr. Donna Eleese laughed lightly and placed the cup of coffee she was holding on the table between them and sat down in the chair across from him. 

"You seem a lot better than the last time I saw you." She commented and took a sip from her cup.

Al lit the cigar and sat back in his chair, "Yeah, well, 48 hours of sleep really recharges a man's batteries!" he said lazily. "Guess there's probably a ton of paperwork waiting for my attention after my little 'vacation'"

"You know, you really should rest a little more Al. I think the paperwork can wait." Al could hear genuine concern in the woman's voice.

"Maybe, but I'd like to be at least caught up on it before Sam leaps again and things get too crazy around here." He chuckled, "Never thought I'd ever look forward to doing paperwork"

The smile that had graced Donna's face until that moment disappeared and was replaced by a wistful look in her eyes, she looked down at her coffee cup and said softly, "Unless he leaps home."

Al fought back his own pang of sorrow. Donna had waited so patiently all these years for Sam to keep his promise and come home. "I know Sam, he'll make it home someday," he tried to comfort her, "I just don't think he's done all that he's meant to do."

Donna shrugged, "It's been six years, Al. In those six years I've only been with my husband once and then only for a few hours. I'm not Beth, Al, I don't think I can hold out much longer."

Al winced inwardly at the sound of his late wife's name. "I know it's hard, honey.." he began to say.

The world dropped out from under Al Calavicci. He gripped the sides of the table desperately to keep from falling off his chair, and then groaned as the world shattered into a kaleidoscope of colors.

"Al?!" he heard Donna call, "Al? Are you alright?"

He tried to answer, but it felt as if all of the air in his lungs had suddenly disappeared and he was sucking vacuum. A terrible pain lanced through him, sweeping him away into darkness.

When he finally opened his eyes, he found himself lying flat on his back with the entire cafeteria hovering over him. Donna was kneeling beside him and looking down at him with a worried look her face.

"Welcome back." She said when she saw his eyes open.

"Sam.." He gasped as he struggled to sit up.

"Hey, hold on there. Just take it easy." She said as she tried to keep him lying down, "Just lie there for a second."

He ignored her and sat up. The world spun slightly and his stomach did some serious back flips. "Oh man, don't puke Calavicci." He muttered, "I've gotta get to the Control Room."

Donna frowned down at him and searched his face for some unknown reason, "Alright," she sighed and held out a hand to help him up, "Just take it slow, okay?"

Al took her hand and struggled to his feet. Once he was vertical again he stood swaying, fighting to clear his head. Multicolored spots danced briefly in front of his eyes and slowly faded away as he took deep breaths into his seemingly oxygen - deprived lungs. He was gripped with an intense terror that something had happened to Sam. He stumbled forward a few steps and was once again overcome with dizziness. Donna grabbed his arm to steady him when he almost fell over again.

"I really think you should go to the infirmary, Al." She said concerned.

"No!" he said sharply, "I have to get to the Control Room, something's wrong with Sam!"

Donna gasped, "What? How do you know?"

"I just know" He gripped the edge of the table they were standing beside, more fear welling up from some hidden source inside of him, "Something has gone very wrong."

Donna hesitated. Al knew she was both concerned for her husband's safety and at the same time scared for him.

"Please Donna..."he squeezed her hand gently.

"Okay Al, let's get you to the Control Room and we'll see what's going on."

With Donna's help he made his way slowly, but steadily, to the Control Room. He felt so weak, like he had just run ten miles without warming up first, and his head pounded like someone was attacking the inside of his head with a jackhammer. Just as they rounded the last corner the complex speakers started to blare his name, making Al wince from the pain that lanced through his temples, paging him to come to the Control Room at once.

When they arrived, they found the room a hive of frantic activity. Gushie was moving from one side of the console to the other. His wife, Tina, had two panels off of Ziggy's main processor shunt with a quizzical expression on her face, and a flashlight in hand, was peering into the recesses. Other technicians were monitoring other controls or were in the process of pulling up panels to reveal the circuitry underneath. Ziggy's main processor globe winked and whirled at a dizzying pace. Al's heart pounded fearfully in his chest... he just knew something was wrong!

When Gushie saw Donna and Al coming up the ramp into the Control Room a mixture of horror and dread flashed across his boyish face.

"You got here quick." He said as he moved to intercept them.

"We were already on our way here," Al replied as he looked around, "What's going on?"

"We lost Dr. Becketts signal about 10 minutes ago."

Al felt his blood run cold and could feel Donna start to tremble beside him. He put his arm around her shoulders comfortingly. "Can you get it back?"

"We're working on it sir. Ziggy is running a full diagnostic now and Tina and the techs are taking a look to make sure it's not a hardware burnout. If all goes well we should be able to re-start and find him again," Gushie explained as he fidgeted nervously under Al's penetrating gaze. "It may just be a simple malfunction of the Timestream Tracking sensors."

"How long?"

Gushie glanced over to Tina who seemed poised to crawl right into the part of Ziggy she was examining, "This is a lot of computer hardware to go through," Tina absently answered, "Give us an hour, maybe two, and then we should have some answers for you."

"You've got one hour to find the answers," Al told him.

"B-but Admiral! I sincerely doubt that" Gushie whined in protest.

"One hour!"Al growled at him, "There's something very wrong Gushie, and we've got to make contact with Sam as soon as possible."

--

  
Sam slowly clawed his way through the darkness back into consciousness. The first thing he became aware of was the intense pain in his head and the sense of vertigo. He tried desperately to open his eyes, but they didn't seem to want to obey him. As he raised his right hand to his face slowly to try and pry his eyelids open with his fingers, a hand intercepted his and moved it away.

"Take it easy, just relax for minute" a soft female voice said, "Give yourself some time to adjust. Your leap in was a rough one."

As the soft hand started to slowly stroke his hair, he became aware that his head was  gently cradled in this woman's lap, something that felt so familiar. An image of a female face flashed quickly through his mind, dark hair, hazel eyes you could drown in, and a smile that lightened his heart. It was so familiar to him, he could sense the name that matched the image tugging at the back of his memory. He struggled to recall it but all he met was more pain. He moaned from an agony separate from the pain in his head as the image, and familiarity, were swept away. He could feel his own tears stream down the sides of his cheeks.

"Shh, Dr. Beckett," the soothing female voice broke through the pain. "Don't fight it, let it flow from you. Just let it flow right out of you.." He could feel her brush the tears away and softly start stroking his temples, "Let it flow from you. Let it go. Relax. Let it flow."

She kept murmuring to him. As he stopped struggling, he felt himself become more relaxed, and the pain gradually diminished to a dull ache that surrounded his head like a tight band. He sighed gratefully and just let himself float in the light meditative trance she had put him into.

After a few seconds, or minutes, or hours, he finally felt up to trying to open his eyes again and to his surprise they opened easily. He looked up. And his gaze was met by a pair of intense blue eyes.

"Hi." She smiled. The smile lit up her whole face, as if she were smiling with her whole essence.

Much to his consternation, his reply was a very pathetic croak.

She chuckled softly, "It's okay. Save your voice. Let me get you to someplace more comfortable, and then you can have a drink, okay?"

He nodded slowly, not wanting to jar his head.

Her eyes twinkled down at him, "Good, I would've thought something was seriously wrong if you wanted to stay lying on this cold floor. Think you can handle standing up?"

Again he nodded.

"Okay, now I'm going to slowly move back. Just lie still until I get to your side" she said as she slowly moved backwards with her hands supporting his head. Once she was clear she gently lowered his head to the floor. "Well, that wasn't so difficult!" she said, coming around to his side, and smiling brightly down at him again. "Now, we're going to take this in stages, okay, Dr. Beckett?"

He nodded, starting to really like this cheerful woman.

"Alright, now I'm going to put my hand at the back of your neck and the other here on your arm so I can give you some leverage sitting up. Now, I want you to sit up slowly, but smoothly. If you start feeling dizzy or nauseous just try to ignore it until you're fully up, okay? We can deal with it better then because trying this repeatedly might do more harm than good."

He nodded again.

"Alrighty then! Here we go on the count of three. 1 2. 3!"

With a great heave he slowly sat up. Halfway the dizziness returned and he could feel almost all of his recouped strength drain quickly from him. 

"Oh no you don't!" He heard her say. 

The woman shifted herself quickly until his sagging body was supported by hers with his back lying against her front. He shuddered as a flash of pain went through him. He started to see stars at the edges of his vision. He closed his eyes and felt so very tired.

"Dr. Beckett?" the woman asked softly.

"Dr. Beckett?!"

"C'mon, stay with me, Dr. Beckett!" He felt her warm hand gently brush across his cheek,. "You've got to stay awake! Come on please, Dr. Beckett. Stay awake for a while longer, please?"

He struggled against the darkness that was rapidly sweeping him back into unconsciousness. Unfortunately it was winning. He was so tired.

"Dr. Beckett!" Her voice was almost pleading,. "Stay awake with me here! Please. Admiral Calavicci will skin me alive if he gets here and you're passed out on the floor."

Al! At the mention of his best friend's name, Sam struggled harder and slowly made his way back into wakefulness. When he finally re-opened his eyes he looked sideways to see her grinning at him.

"I knew you could do it."

In starts and stops she helped him get to his feet and, oh so slowly, up a flight of stairs, through a couple of hallways, to a large foyer, to another set of larger stairs that led up to where the bedrooms were. By the time she had led him to the closest and helped him lie down on the comfortable bed, after hastily pulling down the comforter and sheets, he really felt like he was ready to die. She sat on the side of the bed and let him rest until his head cleared and his stomach stopped threatening to rebel on him.

With some blushing she explained to him that she wanted to help him out of his clothes. He looked down at himself and was only slightly surprised to see the white Fermi suit he wore. He rolled over to his side slowly and lifted the back of his hair so she could see where the velcro closure began. 

She chuckled as she stripped the velcro fastening downwards, "I feel like I'm skinning a chicken"

He smiled. That was the last thing that had been on his mind when he designed the suit.

Once she had gotten all of the velcro unfastened he rolled back over, trembling with exertion. She smiled sympathetically at him,. "Just a few more minutes Dr. Beckett, then you can rest and I'll get you something to drink."

She pulled the covers upward, above his waist, and then started peeling the suit downward from his shoulders. "Yup, just like a chicken!" she joked.

It was tricky going but she managed to get the suit down to his ankles while reserving his dignity. But once at the ankles the elastic material stuck and she tugged on it harder. She stopped after a moment and looked up at him, "And I thought taking off pantyhose was difficult!" she laughed. "Don't tell me, the Admiral helped pick out the material for it?" she asked grinning with her right eyebrow upraised quizzically.

He chuckled weakly and then nodded, catching a bit of her playful mood. Welcoming it seemed to wash away some of his apprehension of how he had ended up where, and for that matter, when, he was, and the multitude of questions slowly building in his mind.

"Uh huh, I knew it" She muttered in mock annoyance, "This is ridiculous, I feel like I'm in a bad movie or something"

As she struggled with the suit, he finally had a chance to take a good look at his 'hostess' in the dim light of the bedroom. He knew she wasn't as tall as he was since she had only come to his shoulder while helping him up the stairs. He estimated that it probably made her 5'5" or 5'6". Her hair was a golden color and came down to the middle of her back. She was slight but athletic, and she wore what looked like a white spandex tank top that left her midriff bare, and a white skirt that hung low from her hips down to her ankles. Overall, quite attractive in his estimation.

Suddenly she gave a savage yank on the suit and it flew off of his ankles propelling her backwards. She landed in a heap on the floor giggling and held up the suit triumphantly.

"Got it!" she proclaimed proudly.

As she stood she bundled up the suit and lobbed it towards a table in the shadows. It landed with a thump and then a sliding sound as it slid off of its intended destination.

"Fine, stay on the floor then" she muttered.

Sam suddenly wished that Al had been there during this. He could only imagine some of the comments his friend would have made. When he thought of Al, he felt some apprehension that his Observer hadn't shown up yet. Where was he? He hoped that Al had been delayed by something as simple as a rendezvous with his latest lady friend and not something serious. He stopped himself when he felt the wrongness of that thought. Hadn't he done something about that in a previous leap? He suddenly felt cold inside with the realization that he may have erased his best friend's existence from his. He quickly pushed that thought away, since the woman had already mentioned that Al would probably be there soon. Wait a minute. How did she know about Al? How did she know his name? How.? Too many questions blazed through his mind as he watched the cheerful woman leave the room with a promise of bringing back something to soothe his parched mouth and throat. 

He quickly ran through his mind everything she had said to him since his arrival. He remembered her first saying to him that his leap in had been rough, so that gave her knowledge about the Project, and then her knowing his name. His instincts at first had said that he had finally leaped home, but when he saw his surroundings he knew he wasn't in the Project complex. Secondly, she obviously knew Al fairly well from her comments, but the way she formally addressed Sam and referred to Al, they weren't close friends. He rummaged through his swiss cheesed memory trying to figure out if this woman seemed familiar to him. Maybe someone he and Al knew from their days at Star Bright? No, not that. Maybe a Leapee that hadn't had her memories totally swiss cheesed on her return? He tried to remember his previous leaps but came up blank. Another Leaper like Alia? Or Zoe? That was a terrifying thought. But her actions spoke differently. She'd had a chance to kill him while he was unconscious, so he could probably rule that out.

The pain in his head gradually worsened as thoughts and questions ran through his head. Flashes of memories went through his mind, gaining in intensity,. It was like they all wanted to return at once. By the time she returned, he was almost delirious from the pain. 

She quickly went over to him and placed the things she had been carrying on the floor. "Hey," she said softly as she sat beside him, "what brought this on?"

Laying her hands on either side of his head, she gently forced him to look at her,. "You have to listen to me Dr. Beckett. I think your mind and body have been seriously battered from your leap in,. You have to let them rest in order to return to health. So relax, okay. Just let it go." She started murmuring softly, encouraging him to put aside the pain he was feeling and relax his mind and body.

Once again her comforting voice soothed him through the pain until he once again lay completely relaxed and the pain manageable.

She let him rest for a moment,. "Would you like that drink now?" she asked softly, as if not wanting to break his relaxed state.

He nodded and was relieved when she filled a glass from the pitcher she had brought with her. With one hand, she held his head up and with the other, helped him drink from the glass. He gulped greedily as the cool, slightly sweet liquid ran through his mouth and down his throat. He groaned when she pulled the glass slightly away from him after he'd only been drinking for a second.

"Take it easy Dr. Beckett, just sip it okay?" she murmured, "You know that you're dehydrated so drink slowly so you don't get sick."

He smiled at her and she once again brought the glass back to his lips. After he had sipped at it a few more times and the annoying fuzziness in his mouth was gone he let himself relax and didn't protest when she withdrew the cup.

"Better?" she asked.

"Much," he replied, doing an excellent impression of someone who had swallowed a pond full of frogs.

"Okay, maybe one more drink." She laughed as she helped him take another drink.

After the drink he lay back and looked at the woman curiously. Whoever this woman was he felt certain that she really didn't mean him any harm.

She caught him staring at her and held his gaze for a moment. "Well, you're probably so full of questions right now you're about ready to burst.," she said with a slight smile.

"I do have some questions," he replied softly, not wanting to strain his throat, "First of all what's the date today?"

He smile grew wider, "It's May first, and the year is 2001."

May 1st 2001?!! It struck him that he had finally leaped home! Maybe not New Mexico or the Project, but he was certain that he was in the same time as the Project currently was. He was himself, not in a host, so that was a sure sign. No wonder Al hadn't shown up! He was probably on his way here once they realized that Sam wasn't Leaping anymore. He started grinning, then giggling, and then finally laughing out of relief.

"I'm home!"

* * *


	3. Part Three

DISCLAMER: All characters belong to Paramount Studios and Bellasarius productions. Used without permission but with lots of respect!

Into The Night  
Chapter Two

* * *

Project Quantum Leap  
Stallions Gate, New Mexico  
May 1, 2001

  
Al paced nervously up and down the corridor by the Control Room. Every once in a while he would stop by the door and peer in at the activity inside. The weakness and pain he had felt before rapidly vanished until all he felt was a small ache at his temples. He replayed in his mind over and over again the vision he had when he was unconscious. 

"Al."

Al stopped and turned towards the voice, "Look 'Bena I don't have time for you to psychoanalyze me now."

The beautiful psychiatrist looked at him with concern, "Donna told me what's happened. Are you sure that Sam's in trouble? There's no one in the Waiting Room. It may just be a simple malfunction."

He pulled out his ever-present cigar, re-lit it, and puffed on it aggressively. "I know it all sounds like I had some kind of delusion while I was passed out but it was real! Sam is in some major trouble and we need to get in touch with him. Besides, it's not like he hasn't leaped as himself before," he said, reminding her of the leap that had them all thinking that Sam was probably dying and suffering from a self induced hallucination of that damn bar, Al's Place.

"Then perhaps you should prepare for the possibility that Sam is dead.," she said softly.

Al glared at her,. "Don't you think that! Don't ever think that! Sam's not dead! Lost maybe, but not dead."

She was about to reply when Ziggy declared, "I have a lock!"

Al smiled triumphantly at 'Bena, "Told you so. After you, beautiful." He gestured for her to proceed him into the Control Room.

"Bringing the Imaging Chamber online.," Ziggy purred as Al crossed the Control Room and reached for his handlink.

"Where and when is he Ziggy?" he asked as he immediately headed for the doors of the Imaging Chamber.

"Running a temporal scan now Admiral," replied the computer. "Scan complete. Oh my"

Al stopped and turned to Ziggy, "Oh my?" he asked.

"Admiral" her central processor whirled excitedly, "Dr. Beckett's current time is May first in the year of 2001 approximately 12:35pm Eastern Standard Time."

Someone let out a shout, "That's three hours ahead of us!"

"Actually. It's the same time as us just in a different time zone," the computer corrected.

Al grinned, and said softly, "He's back!" He looked up at the globe. "You'd better be right, Ziggy. Now where is he so I can go and get him?"

"Dr. Beckett is in Port Perry, Ontario, Canada," she replied, slightly miffed at the Admiral's seeming doubt.

"You're sure?" he asked.

"Running a check through the MENSAT satellite to pinpoint his exact location."

Al retreated from the Imaging Room doors and looked around at the stunned faces of everyone in the Control Room. "What are you all just standing around for?!" he laughed, "He's coming home! Someone find Dr. Eleese and bring her here. Tina! Start pulling all of the files of Sam's leaps out of the archives and shunt them to the terminal in his lab. Gushie, get together the notes on Ziggy Sam's finally coming home! Ziggy, inform the airfield that I'll be taking off within the hour."

"Yes Admiral." even the computer sounded excited.

Everyone broke out of their shocked paralysis and started scrambling off in different directions. 

--

Sam was almost crying from relief, he was finally back in his own time. He could hardly believe it! He grinned up at the woman, but upon seeing her serious face the grin slowly retreated.

"There's something you haven't told me, isn't there?" he asked.

She lowered her gaze from his and stared at her hands for a moment. When she looked back up at him he could see determination in her eyes.

"Dr. Beckett. I have two words that'll sum it up for you" she replied.

--

"Admiral."

"Yes, Ziggy," Al answered as he leaned leisurely against her main control panel smoking his cigar.

"He's not there," she replied sadly.

"What!!? What do you mean he's not there?! You said he was there two minutes ago!"

"Well, he is and he isn't"

--

". Alternate universe."

Sam stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment and took a deep shuddering breath. 

"I know this may be hard for you to accept, Dr. Beckett, but Project Quantum Leap does not exist in my universe." She sighed, "I'm sorry."

"I thought I was home." he whispered.

--

"Let me see if I've got this straight," Al said to Ziggy, "Sam is in Port Perry, Ontario, Canada, but not this universe's Port Perry, Ontario, Canada?"

"Basically, Admiral." 

He sat down heavily on the console, "Can we contact him?"

"I don't know, Admiral," admitted the computer, "it may be possible, but my father never programmed me for this eventuality."

"How the hell did he end up in an alternate universe?" Al wondered aloud.

--

"I have three theories on how you ended up here Dr. Beckett," the woman was saying as she helped him take another drink.

"Call me Sam, please," he said as he sank back against the pillows. "I just realized that I don't know your name."

She laughed, "You know, you're right. I'm sorry. My name is Reika, Reika Connelly."

"Nice to meet you, Reika."

"You have no idea how great it is to meet you Dr. Beck. Uh Sam." She pulled a big overstuffed chair over to the side of the bed and with a grateful sigh, she sank into it, "Like I was saying I have three theories. One is that you were sent here by God, Time, Fate whatever" A smile came to her face and she chuckled slightly, "Never thought I'd actually hear myself say that to anyone" she murmured,. "Anyway, you may be here to correct something that's about to go wrong. Since you're here as yourself, and you didn't leap into me, I can only assume that you're here to help me. But I don't see anything in my life that really needs changing, but who knows?" she shrugged,. "Second, it could have been a random accident. Maybe a rip in the space time continuum or a fluctuation of the Quantum plane that caused you to leap into my universe instead of your own and, because your intended Host wasn't where it was supposed to be, you're in your own body. Third is that you were brought here by some force in my universe for a specific reason. But considering the state that you were in I doubt that there was a benevolent force behind it."

Sam lay there silently thinking about what she said and then finally got up the courage to ask a question that was nagging at his mind.

"How do you seem to know so much about me and Project Quantum Leap?"

--

"So you see, Admiral," Ziggy was saying as Al paced back and forth across the Control Room, "Those possibilities make the most logical sense."

The Control Room that a moment before had been alive with joyful activity suddenly became as quiet as a crypt.

"Now what do we do?" asked Gushie.

"We contact him and find a way to bring him home."

Everyone in the Control Room turned as one to look at Donna from where she spoke quietly from the door. 

"You heard the lady, people!" Al said when no one spoke,. "Ziggy!"

"Yes, Admiral?" the computer replied silkily.

"Is the Imaging Chamber online?" he said as he picked up his handlink.

"Bringing the Imaging Chamber back online Ad mi.." Ziggy's voice slowly ground to a stop. 

Gushie looked up horrified as Ziggy's central processor slowly whirled to a stop and the multitude of lights started to go out one by one.

"Ziggy!" he called as he hastily started tapped at the keyboard in front of him.

"What's going on?" Tina asked at the same time.

Donna entered the control room and stared up at Ziggy's ball. "Ziggy?"

"Now what?!" Al cried exasperatedly,. "Has that mismatched collection of microchips finally had a nervous breakdown?"

Gushie peered at the screen in front of him, "It appears, sir, that someone has broken into Ziggy's main processing unit."

Al looked at him with disbelief, "That's not possible is it?"

"It's not supposed to be possible,. Ziggy's main unit is totally self contained," the programmer replied, "The only way someone could do that is if."

"They're in the Control Room," a male voice finished for him.

Suddenly, the door to the Control Room shut with a bang and a clunk followed immediately afterwards indicating the door was locked. From out of the shadows walked Jeffery Matthews, one of the techs, holding in one hand what looked like a weapon and in the other, something that looked similar to Al's handlink.

"Now I would appreciate it if everyone would please move over there by Dr. Conelf." He motioned with his weapon.

One of the other techs took a run at Matthews, trying to tackle him. Matthews swung around at the last second and fired the weapon at the doomed tech, who immediately disappeared in a shower of sparks. Matthews turned back to the rest of the room.

"Any other heroes?" he asked with a grin, "No? Good, everyone please move over there."

Al and the rest moved slowly towards where Gushie stood frozen, transfixed by the sight of one of his techs seemingly taking over Project Quantum Leap.

Al studied the young tech carefully for a moment and then spoke, "Why are you doing this Jeff?" he asked. "I know you, I'm the one who hired you in the first place, this isn't like you at all."

Matthews smiled brightly, "How kind of you to ask Admiral Calavicci! If you would all just hold still for a second and I'll answer you." He pressed a button on the side of the weapon, raised it, and fired

--

Reika grinned, "Well, that's easy to answer. Although I don't know if you're going to believe this."

Sam sighed, "Try me okay? I think I'm handling the idea that I'm in an alternate universe alright."

She laughed, "True! Okay, I wasn't completely truthful when I said that Project Quantum Leap didn't exist here." Sam looked at her shocked, "Don't misunderstand me Sam, it does and doesn't. Quantum Leap is a television show. It's got a big following here and all over the world. I've been a huge fan for years. That's how I know you and PQL so well and well this is kinda a dream come true for me, to finally meet you for real."

"I'm a fictional character here?" the information slowly sank in, "That's. you're right, it's almost impossible to believe."

She nodded, "I understand, when you're feeling better I'll show you some of the episodes that I've got on tape." She chuckled, "I'm curious as to how Admiral Calavicci is going to handle it though."

Sam smiled, "I can only imagine. Speaking of Al where the heck is he?"

--

The whole group ducked. Al shielded Donna with his body and Gushie dragged Tina around behind him. Then they looked around amazed as the beam from the weapon surrounded them, split off into several separate rays, spun around them until a dull white dome of energy enveloped the whole group.

"There, now that you're settled," said Matthews as he set his weapon down on the nearest console, "I can finish what I need to do."

Al and the others sat huddled under the strange white dome watching the man who was once one of them move about the room. Al was cursing himself for not suspecting this man's obvious instability when he'd interviewed him seven years earlier. He remembered meeting Jeffrey Matthews for the first time,. Nothing in the man's record had even hinted that he was even mildly off his rocker. Even now, his whole behavior was totally unlike him. Then Al realized that it may not even be Jeffrey at all.

"Which one are you, Matthews?" Al called out to him, "Zoe or Thames?"

Matthews chuckled, "You're more clever than I originally thought, Admiral, but you're wrong in assuming that I'm one of them." He turned and looked at Al, "You're right that I'm not Jeffrey Matthews,." There was a brief flash of light and the mousy figure of Matthews was replaced by a handsome man with short dark hair and dark eyes. He was wearing a one piece black outfit made of some kind of shiny material with an insignia on his left front pocket Al had never seen before. He stretched, "That's much better! Holding that form was starting to get really uncomfortable."

Al stared at this man in astonished amazement. "I knew there was something hinky about you! Where is Jeffery Matthews?"

The man who was once Matthews laughed evilly, "Dead, Admiral, but don't worry; you and your precious Dr. Beckett shall soon be joining him."

Donna gasped, "Why are you doing this?! All Sam wants to do is get home!"

The man walked over and knelt down to where Donna sat, "My dear Dr. Eleese, your husband has been a thorn in my compatriot's sides for the past six years. You'd think that Dr. Beckett would be sick and tired of trying to save your miserable world by now and leap home. But nooo! He's still out there meddling where he doesn't belong." His eyes flashed brightly,. "Putting things right where they once went wrong, indeed!" he sneered,. "So I'm going to make sure that he doesn't interfere anymore. I'm sorry, my dear, but you, Admiral Calavicci, and everyone in the core group of PQL are going to die today. The only ones who are missing are Ms. Sammy Jo Fuller and Dr. Beckett's and your son Jonathan Albert, but I can take care of that after I finish up here. I had considered eliminating them and the Admiral's daughters but orders are orders. They're to return with me and be reprogrammed for our benefit."

Al lunged at him and hit the dome with a sizzling thump. He howled and lurched back against Donna. "You shouldn't have done that Admiral," the man said as he got back up, the annoying grin back in place,. "Now all you've done is started your torment a little early."

"You bastard!" gasped Al as he struggled with the intense pain that was coursing through his body.

The man chuckled humorlessly and went about his business.

Donna put her arms around Al, trying to comfort him while the buzzing pain in his body started to ease up a little. He felt her tears drop onto his cheeks, and his feelings of helplessness grew worse. He reached up with a shaky hand and patted her lightly on the head. 

"It's okay" he managed to get out through clenched teeth.

"Oh Al.!" She sobbed. "Are you alright?"

"I'll be okay in a minute darlin'" He replied. "Don't you worry."

"Admiral!" Gushie poked at Al causing the man to cry out,. "Oh sorry," the programmer said apologetically, "But look at what that man is doing!"

Al looked up to see their captor peering intently at a holographic screen as his fingers danced quickly over the keyboard in front of him. Al forced his blurry eyes to focus and gasped when he saw him type in a familiar sequence.

"He can't mean to!" Al gasped.

"He is, Admiral. He's setting the Acceleration Chamber to overload," moaned Gushie. "If it blows it will destroy all of PQL."

* * *


	4. Part Four

DISCLAMER: All characters belong to Paramount Studios and Bellasarius productions. Used without permission but with lots of respect!

Into The Night  
Chapter Three

* * *

Alternate Universe  
Perry's Port, Ontario, Canada  
May 1, 2001

Sam yawned hugely and then looked up chagrined at Reika. She grinned at him.

"I'm sorry Sam, you must be bushed!" she laughed,. "It's still the middle of the day, I'm wide awake, and talking your ear off. There you are, been to Hades and back, and probably all you want to do is sleep through the next couple of days!" As she spoke, she stood and pushed her chair a little further away from the bed,. "You get some sleep and when you wake up I'll have some chicken soup or something ready for you."

"Yes, mom," Sam quipped as he snuggled deeper under the covers.

She looked down at him, her grin even greater. She placed her hand on his forehead, "Good boy. I'll be close by if you wake up and need anything." 

A great lethargy washed over Sam and he yawned again. "Thanks, Reika," he murmured as sleep crept up on him. 

"You're welcome, Sam," she softly replied.

Reika stood beside the bed watching Sam's breathing deepen. Her mind was still reeling with the reality that Dr. Samuel Beckett, Quantum Physicist turned Time Traveler, was here and sleeping in her guest bed. She tucked the blankets a little more closely around Sam's shoulders and then crept quietly out of the bedroom. She closed the door slowly behind her and then leaned against it. She took some deep breaths as a cheek splitting grin broke out across her face. 

"I can't believe it," she whispered to herself,. "He's really here!"

Pushing herself off of the door, she walked slowly down the hallway to the room that she used as her office. Once inside she sat down heavily on her desk chair and swung around in circles that matched the whirling thoughts in her mind. "Okay, if he's here then that means that Al will probably show up soon," she thought, "which means that I probably won't be able to see him, but I'll keep an eye on Sam's expressions to see the 'hologram' effect first hand." She giggled, "Oh this is too good!!" As her chair slowly twirled to a halt her eyes rested on her collection of Quantum Leap souvenirs sitting on the shelf just to the right of her huge computer desk. "I'm going to have to pack that stuff up. If Sam or Al see it, they're really going to wonder about me."

Then her thoughts sobered and the grin was once again replaced with a mask of seriousness. She thought to herself, "Some kind of Dark Force must have brought him here. What had pulled him through the veil between the worlds to here?"

When his essence had brushed hers while meditating she hadn't even suspected that it was anything other than some kind of spirit in distress. When he latched onto her, almost overwhelming her with the pain and anguish that he felt, she pulled back to her body inadvertently bringing him with her. It was a shock when she opened her eyes and saw another person kneeling in front of her, ready to topple over on to her. Her instincts had taken over when she reached out and caught him. When he'd looked up and caught his reflection in the mirror she kept down there for self hypnosis, his shocked "Oh boy!" jarred something in her more than his passing out. When she lowered him carefully to the floor, and rolled him over enough to take a good look at him, she had been surprised to see the form of Scott Bakula there, the actor who played Sam on Quantum Leap. Then, upon closer examination she noticed differences: The most glaring, other than the length of his hair, was the Sam Beckett trademark white streak in his bangs. The white Fermi suit confirmed her suspicions. She'd sat there for an hour with his head in her lap just staring at him. 

Now she was faced with a dilemma: Duty dictated that she had to call her superiors at the Center and report this but the rest of her didn't want to hand him over. It didn't feel right somehow. 

Pushing off with her feet, she set the chair to slowly spin around, pulled her feet up, and sat back into the chair with her arms crossed. 

Could she get away with it? 

Maybe. 

She was on extended leave until the beginning of June, so whatever she did was technically on her own time, and she didn't really have to report this. 

At least not right away. 

She really, really, wanted to help Sam, and, if they got into anything too serious she could always yell for help and accept the consequences. 

Now how to get him home?

The chair slowly spun to a stop with her staring blankly as her mind was working at lightening speeds to formulate possibilities of how to get Sam Beckett back to his own universe. Time slowed to a crawl as her accelerated brain moved through scenario after scenario until she came up with three possible plans. She acted them out in her mind, taking into consideration almost every possible variable she could think of, refining and fine-tuning them until she was satisfied that they could work.

A prickling sensation across her skin brought her out of her mind and back into reality with a jolt. She looked around the cluttered office in annoyance while rubbing her arms to relieve the itch that started there. Suddenly some foreign energy blasted through her causing her to twist and cry out in surprise. When it was over she was left panting and gripping the arms of her chair.

"What the hell was that?!" she asked herself, alarmed.

She was just getting to her feet when it hit her again throwing her to her knees and causing her to cry out again. She also heard a muffled scream from down the hall.

"Sam!" she cried as she slowly crawled to the doorway.

When it was past, she got to her feet as quickly as she could, and in a stumbling run she ran down the hallway to the room where Sam was. She just got to the door and was turning the knob when they were hit again, this time stronger than before, knocking her completely off her feet and through the door. 

"Sam!" she yelled when she heard him cry out again, "It's okay, I'm here!"

She struggled against the energy and got to her knees. She looked up and gasped at what she saw there.

Sam's body was engulfed in a blue-white glow while bolts of energy arced off of him. He looked as if he were in terrible pain as he twisted and turned on the bed. 

She crawled across the floor to him, squinting against the intensity of the glow, and pulled herself to her knees beside the bed. The energy once again ebbed leaving them both drained and panting. She quickly pulled herself up to sit beside him on the bed and as she reached down to touch his face his eyes flew open and he looked up at her with panic in his eyes.

"W-what's going on?" he asked hoarsely.

"I don't know," she replied, "but it isn't good."

She felt the prickling across her skin again as the energy began to build.

"Hold on, Sam," she warned quickly, "Here comes another one!" She placed her fingertips on either side of Sam's temples just as it reached its full force.

Reika was immediately pulled into the maelstrom in Sam's mind as the energy tried to pull him apart from the inside. It crackled down the link into her, and she could feel her own mind start to shatter against its onslaught. She instinctively started to pull back and shut down the link between the two of them, but she stopped herself. She shoved the chaotic energies to one side of her mind, grabbed firmly onto Sam's consciousness, and pulled him into a calm corner.

~ Sam! ~ she called to him.

~ Reika? How? ~ he asked confused.

~I can't explain now but I promise I will later, ~ she replied, holding him closer to her as the edges of the calm started to shrink slightly, ~ Right now I think we've got to find out what's going on. ~

She could sense Sam look around, ~ Those are Quantum energies, I recognize them from what I remember of travelling between Leaps. ~

~ They may be trying to use a retrieval program to bring you back, ~ she suggested.

She felt him shake his head, ~ I don't think so. I know that they've been trying to come up with some new programs, but I don't think any of them are ready yet. Besides, I felt as if I was being thrown out of my body to somewhere. ~ 

She did some rapid thinking, ~ Sam ~

~ What? ~

She sighed, ~ I think we're going to have to go and ask them. ~

~ Ask them? How? They're a whole other universe away. ~

~ I know. It could be dangerous, but I think I can get us through to them with the neuron-link you have with the Admiral., ~ she explained. ~ It won't be easy, but I can do it. You have to trust me. ~

~ Alright, I don't know how, but I know I can trust you. ~

She smiled, ~ Okay let's go! ~

She quickly wrapped her consciousness around his and, before either of them could have second thoughts, she dove into the storm.

--

The Control Room was alight with Quantum fire that arced out from the Accelerator Chamber into the room. There was a high pitched snap as the Accelerator reached it's peak and then a hum as it powered down once again to start the cycle all over again. 

The man could be heard whistling cheerfully to himself as he made his final adjustments. Al watched from his prison thinking of 101 different ways that he would slowly kill that man, if he could only get out of the dome. 

~ Al! ~

~ Admiral! ~

Al jerked as the calls reverberated through his mind. "Sam?" he yelped.

~ Yeah, it's me, ~ he heard Sam's voice reply.

"Al? Are you okay?" Donna whispered to him.

He waved at her to be silent, "Where are you?" he muttered as the man looked over at him. 

He heard Sam chuckle, ~ Well, in your mind, sort of. Look, we don't have much time. I don't know how much longer she can hold the link keeping us here. ~

"She?" Al asked as he closed his eyes to better concentrate on what his friend was saying.

~ Yes, Admiral, she, ~ a female voice answered.

"Who is she?"

~ I'm a friend, Admiral, but we need to know what's going on, ~ she said hastily. ~ Sam's being torn apart by Quantum energies here and it's got to stop before it kills him. ~

That alarmed Al more than the way they were contacting him,. "We've got a madman trying to blow up the Project by overloading the Accelerator."

They were silent for a second, ~ Madman? ~ Sam asked,. ~ How'd he get so deep into the Project? ~

"He started out as one of our techs, Jeffery Matthews, then he changed into this guy." Al explained.

"Al? Who are you talking to?" Donna hissed.

He opened his eyes and looked at Donna, "It's Sam. He's found a way of communicating with me. I can't explain it right now, but he's looking for answers about what's going on here."

"What?!" she cried.

~ Donna?! ~ Al heard Sam cry, ~ Oh my God, I totally forgot about her! Donna! ~

~ Hey, take it easy Sam. Strong emotions aren't a good thing right now, ~ the woman said faintly.

Suddenly Al could feel the two people strongly in his mind, "Sam! Are you okay?" he asked.

~ Yeah, I'm all right. That sorta took me by surprise, that's all. ~ 

~ Admiral, you said that this man started out as someone you knew, and then changed into someone else? ~ the woman asked.

"Yup, it was like something out of a science fiction movie."

He heard and felt her laugh. ~ I can understand that! Could you look at him, please? ~

He turned his head and looked up at his captor.

~ Dalton! ~ the woman cried.

~ You know him? ~ Sam asked.

"You know that nozzle?" Al asked at the same time.

~ His name is Dalton Michaels. He's one mean creepy crawly. ~

"I already got that impression," Al said darkly. "He vaporized Stewart shortly after he took over."

~ Vaporized? ~ Sam asked, alarmed.

The woman was silent for a moment. ~ Oh boy, I think this just got worse. Okay Admiral, we've got to get you free so we can shut down the overload. ~

"And just how do you plan on doing that?" 

Donna yanked on his sleeve. "Al? Are you really talking to Sam?"

He nodded, "Yeah, he and his new friend are going to get us out of here and stop that nozzle over there."

"How are they going to do that?" she asked.

Al was going to reply when he suddenly felt his consciousness shoved to one side.

~ Sorry, Admiral, but this is the only way, ~ the woman apologized as she took control of his body.

"Dalton!" he heard her yell in his own voice.

Dalton turned and looked at him. "How do you know my name, Admiral?"

She smiled, "I have my sources, Dalton. Now I suggest that you stop what you're doing and let us out of here."

"I don't think you're in any position to be making demands, Admiral." Dalton walked over to the dome so he could see Al's face.

~ Just a little closer! ~ she said inside her mind.

She sneered at him, "You really think a noodle head like you can actually keep me imprisoned?" She laughed mockingly at him.

Dalton stepped closer to the dome. "Is that so, Admiral? I thought I was doing a splendid job so far."

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, stalling while she gathered energy to do what she wanted to, "What purpose does it serve to destroy the Project?"

"It's quite simple, Admiral. The destruction of Project Quantum Leap will serve two different purposes. One will be killing you and Dr. Beckett so we won't have to worry about your meddling in the future, and the other will be that when the Accelerator Chamber blows it'll rip a nice big hole through the space time continuum." He smiled.

"You know what, Dalton?" she smiled back at him.

"What's that, Admiral?"

A bright flash surrounded her as her hand shot through the dome and wrapped around his throat. "You talk to much."

~ Oh, honey! ~ Al crowed,. ~ That was too good! Bravo! ~

She stepped through the dome slowly forcing Dalton backward. "Didn't you learn anything from the old movies?" she asked him,. "Never, ever, tell the good guys what your plan is."

Dalton gurgled in reply. He clawed at her hand desperately trying to break free.

She pulled him closer to her, "Good bye, Dalton," she whispered into his ear.

A flash of light enveloped him and then she was holding thin air

* * *


	5. Part Five

DISCLAMER: All characters belong to Paramount Studios and Bellasarius productions. Used without permission but with lots of respect!

Into The Night  
Chapter Four

* * *

Project Quantum Leap  
Stallion Gate, NM  
May 1, 2001

Reika sprinted across the Control Room to where she had spotted Dalton's gun. She picked it up, pressed some of the buttons on the side, and fired it at the dome. It evaporated around them and they were suddenly free.

"You've got to get out of here, now!" she yelled at them over the whine of the Accelerator.

"The door's locked!" Tina yelled back.

Reika looked helplessly at her until Gushie rushed over to the main console and started typing furiously. Reika went over and looked over his shoulder at the 3D display. 

~ Reika? ~ Sam called tentatively.

~ Yes Sam? ~

~ Donna..? ~ he asked softly.

She smiled sadly. She knew this might be the last time he may ever see his wife again.

~ Okay, Sam. ~

She turned and looked at Donna,. "Donna?" she called to her.

Donna looked up at her,. "Al?" she asked, a note of panic in her voice.

"Kind of," Reika replied,. "Someone wants to talk to you." She faded back into Al's mind and pushed Sam to the front. 

"Al? What do you mean?" Donna asked.

"Oh Donna," he sighed. "I'm so sorry honey"

Donna's eyes grew wide,. "S-Sam?" she whispered.

"It's me." He looked at her with sorrowful eyes. "I miss you so much."

"Oh Sam!" she cried as she threw her arms around him. "I miss you too!"

They stood there, just holding each other for what seemed an eternity. Memories of their last night together three years earlier flooded Sam. He buried his face in her hair as tears leaked from his eyes.

"Sam," she murmured, "there's something you should know."

He pulled back slightly,. "What's that?"

She took a deep breath,. "When we were together, when you leaped home that one time, we," she sighed.

~ Donna! No! ~ Al yelled from the recesses of his mind.

~ Leave it alone, Admiral, ~ Reika spoke up. ~ It's her decision, he needs to know. ~

Sam looked down at her, surprised. "What, hon?" he asked softly.

"We have a son."

Sam was shocked into silence. Donna looked at him apprehensively and was surprised to see a smile creep across his face.

"A son," he giggled, "We have a son!!"

He picked her up and swung her around, "A son! Oh, Donna! Darling! A son!"

~ Told you. ~ Reika said smugly.

Just then the Accelerator reached its peak and went off with a high pitched snap. Sam blanched and stumbled forward, almost dropping Donna. She caught and held him steady as he righted himself.

"Sam? Are you all right?" she asked, concerned as he stiffened against her.

"It's okay, I'm alright," he gasped after a moment. He looked over at Gushie,. "Get those doors open!"

"I'm working on it sir,. Ziggy's a mess," the programmer replied.

Sam kissed Donna quickly,. "Remember that I'll always love you, no matter what happens." He looked her in the eye,. "I promise that I'll be back!"

He released her and turned back to Gushie. 

~ Sam! ~

"Reika?" 

~ The link is getting weaker, we've got to hurry. ~

Sam pushed Gushie out of the way and took over the keyboard as his memories of building Ziggy came rushing back.

"Got to get Ziggy back online," he muttered, his brow furrowed with frustration when he couldn't get any of his commands to work. "It's almost like there's something working against me here, like she won't let me in."

~ Let me see, ~ Reika commanded sternly.

He could sense her looking at the scrolling 3D display and then gasped when she actually saw something she understood. ~ He's still sending commands to her somehow. ~

"But he's gone! That shouldn't be possible!"

~ It shouldn't be possible, but it's happening, ~ she sighed. ~ Admiral, how did he take control in the first place? ~

~ Gushie said he'd hacked into Ziggy's main processor~

Sam started typing at a frantic pace, hoping to cut off the commands before they were totally processed. He used every trick he could think of, but, unfortunately, he was too damn slow! 

"This isn't working!" He pounded on the console in frustration.

~ The commands are going in too fast, ~ Reika thought,. ~ If we had one of the N.I.'s from my universe we'd at least be able to keep up. ~

"N.I.?" Sam asked through gritted teeth as another Quantum surge went through him.

An image flashed across his mind,. ~ A neural interface; it allows us to telepathically link with a compatible unit. ~

~ I think Dalton had one of those., ~ Al said when he saw a picture of it in her mind

~ Show me! Quickly! ~ A glimmer of hope blossomed in Reika.

~ Huh? ~ Al replied, confused.

Suddenly the whole scene where Dalton took over replayed in fast forward through their combined minds. Reika stopped the scene where Dalton stepped out of the shadows.

~ There! You see what he's holding! ~ she said excitedly,. ~ Where is it now? ~

~ Well, that was strange, ~ commented Al. ~ I don't know, he put it down somewhere.~

~ Sam! You've got to find it! You can undo everything Dalton put into Ziggy with it. ~

Sam spun around and scanned the room hastily. The Accelerator reached an even higher peak and went off. Sam's agony was so intense he almost blacked out. 

~ Hang in there Sam..., ~ Reika thought to him,. ~ Just a little longer. ~ 

When is vision cleared, he caught sight of Tina standing by the door with the rest of the personnel holding onto the coveted device.

"Tina! Where'd you get that?" he asked.

Tina pointed to the console closest to her. "I was going to study it to see if I could figure it out," she quavered, slightly afraid of Al's strange behavior in the past few minutes.

Sam smiled,. "You can study it later. Right now I need it."

Tina tossed it across the Control Room at to him,. "Thanks, Tina."

Sam stared at the strange device for a moment,. "How does this thing work anyways?" he muttered when he couldn't make sense of it.

~ Okay it's like this,~ Reika started to explain, then she paused. ~ Actually, I think it might be faster if I did it. ~

"I think you're right," Sam agreed as Reika once again took control.

~ I can't believe Tina's afraid of me! ~ Al said, slightly outraged.

~ Relax, Al. Considering that only Donna really knows what's going on, I'm not surprised. They must think you're losing your marbles. I'm sure you can straighten things out later, ~ Sam said weakly.

~ Sam? Are you okay, kid? ~ Al was concerned at how weak his best friend felt to him.

~ I'll live. Hurry, Reika! ~

Reika held the interface up in the flickering light of the Control Room. Positioning her fingers over the keypad of the interface, she linked her mind with it and quickly cancelled out the previous commands it had been given by Dalton. It connected easily with Ziggy's main processor and Reika poured everything she and Sam knew to get control back to the parallel hybrid computer. At lightening speeds they fixed the damage and started to restore the computer's command functions. Reika looked over her shoulder at the large ball that was Ziggy's main processor, or brain, and was relieved to see the lights once again come back on and swirl about slowly. She sent the command to unlock the door and was glad when the command was readily accepted. When the doors opened, they could barely hear the blare of the emergency sirens over the whine of the Accelerator. There was a small stampede when everyone tried to get out at once. Reika could feel her skin start to itch as the Accelerator started to reach another peak again.

"Ziggy!" she called out with crossed fingers.

"Yes, Admiral?" replied the smooth voice of the computer.

"Shut down the Accelerator, now!"

"Shutting down now, Admiral." There was a pause. Nothing happened. "I was unsuccessful in shutting down the Accelerator, Admiral."

"Why not?" she asked horrified. 

"Its still mid-cycle now. I can not shut it down at this point."

"Oh hell," groaned Reika as she turned to look at the Chamber. "As soon as it cycles down, Ziggy, you've got to shut it down!"

"I will do so, Admiral."

She could feel Sam writhe as the Quantum energies tore through him. 

~ Sam! ~ Al hollered, instinctively reaching out for Sam.

"Admiral, don't!" Reika yelled when she realized what he was doing.

The Accelerator glowed, snapping, popping, as a blue-white bolt arced along the walls of the chamber.

The whine was almost ear shattering.

Reika turned and yelled at everyone who was left to get out of the Control Room. Something felt wrong about this cycle. Really, really wrong! Reika hastily sent a burst of information through the interface into Ziggy's memory hoping that they would be able to make sense of it later. Then, she dove for cover within Al's mind, dragging Sam and Al along with her.

At that moment, a blue-white bolt of uncontrolled Quantum energy lashed out of the chamber and sliced through the body of Admiral Albert Calavicci. With a blinding flash and a deafening boom, Al's body was thrown violently across the Control Room and slid to a halt against the far wall. The whine of the Accelerator echoed hollowly through the control room and then there was silence.

"Shut down complete," reported Ziggy.  
--

She hurt. She was dizzy. There was no up or down; only falling into more pain. She cried out desperately trying to find someone. Where did he go? She had to protect him! She called out his name again and again but got no answer. Despair tore through her,; she'd lost him! She'd failed! No! The pain was joined by voices. Hundreds of them, thousands of them! They all crashed in on her overwhelming her own voice and she cried out for them to be silent. She screamed for someone to help her out of the voices. She fought, she cried, she pleaded, she screamed, and then she kept on screaming. Suddenly there was blessed silence and the darkness of unconsciousness.

Reika woke to find herself strapped down to a hospital bed in a very medical looking room and her head aching. She looked down at herself and was relieved to see that she was at least in her own body. She squirmed slightly in the bed and felt the scratchiness of a biosuit and a slight tug at the back of her head near her hairline. It hit Reika that it must be a diagnostic connection to her implant which meant that she was truly back in her own universe. That meant they'd made it back. Sam! She remembered the final moments before the Accelerator went off. Oh, God Al! Tears streaked down her cheeks. Had she killed him? Was she successful in shielding both of them? Or were they both dead?

The door to her room opened, revealing a very business-like looking nurse who frowned when she saw that Reika was awake.

"You're awake! Good! Dr. Simms will be happy to see that.," she said as she walked across the room. She was holding a portable screen in which she started writing down Reika's vitals from the computer screen beside the bed,. "Do you remember your name?"

"It's Reika, Reika Connelly." 

"Good, and do you know where you are?"

"In a hospital?" Reika sighed, taking an instant dislike to the woman.

The nurse gave her a hard look,. "Do you remember how you got here?"

Reika shook her head,. "No, but considering I've got a hole in my memory the size of the Grand Canyon I'm not surprised. Is Dr. Beckett all right?"

When the nurse didn't answer her she grew apprehensive.

"You've got to tell me, is Sam okay? Or is he dead?" Reika persisted.

The door to her room opened again, admitting two men. One was an unfamiliar doctor and the other was a familiar man in uniform. Reika closed her eyes in despair. If General Franco was here, she was in deep trouble. The look on his face made her think he was ready to skin her alive right there. He'd pulled out all the stops this time, wearing his full military uniform complete with medals. His gray eyes were dark with the suppressed anger she felt roiling inside of him. She was determined not to let him get the upper hand in the conversation.

She looked up at the General and smiled, "I'd salute but my hands are tied right now."

General Franco frowned, "I don't see anything amusing in this, Commander."

"Nor do I, sir." She didn't stop smiling,. "I'm just glad that I'm alive. Maybe you can tell me if Dr. Beckett is still alive?"

"Is that his name? Beckett?" the doctor asked.

She nodded, relieved that the doctor hadn't used past tense in referring to Sam, "Yes, his name is Dr. Samuel Beckett. How is he?"

"He's in a coma. That must have been really something to debilitate both of you.," Dr. Simms said as he consulted her chart. He closed it with a snap and looked at her,. "Can you tell me what happened?"

She related the whole story to them, omitting her intention to go solo on helping Sam, and watched as the General got angrier and angrier.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" he exploded once she was done,. "You should have called in for help immediately! Then" His face was an unpleasant shade of red, "then you go ahead and expose your abilities to people of another universe!"

"Sir, there wasn't time. Everything happened so quickly," she tried to explain. "Project Quantum Leap would be a heap of radioactive ash and Dr. Beckett and his staff would all be dead by now if I hadn't done what I did!"

"You tell him, beautiful." A familiar voice said off to one side,. "My hero! Or is it heroine..?"

Reika's head whipped around to see Admiral Albert Calavicci standing in the corner. He was wearing the most outrageous lemon yellow suit, with a white shirt underneath, and an amazing yellow and orange tie. In his hand he carried his trademark cigar. It hurt to look at him. Before she could speak he held his finger to his lips to tell her not to say anything to him. She grinned and looked back at the General.

The man looked like he was about to go apoplectic. "You've gone too far one time to often Commander!"

Reika sighed; this was getting annoying.

"Y'know," commented Al, "I had a CO just like him on one of my tours in 'Nam. You'd swear he had a steel rod up his butt just for fun."

Reika stopped herself just in time to keep from bursting out laughing. 

Reika would've sworn that the General got even redder in the face, if it was possible. "There's going to be a full Board of Inquiry as soon as you and that Dr. Beckett are well enough to answer some questions." With that he stomped out of the room.

"Yup, I was right, steel rod."

She couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into hysterical giggles. Dr. Simms and the nurse looked at her strangely. Once she calmed down, she asked if they could remove the restraints. They hesitated, but once she convinced them that she wasn't totally mad, they removed them.

Once they left, she rolled over on her side and looked at Al, ~ The room's probably bugged,. I hope that you don't mind if I talk to you like this? ~ she asked.

Al jumped slightly when he heard her voice in his mind, "No no, it's alright. I think I can get used to it."

She squinted,. ~ If that suit was any brighter it'd glow in the dark, ~ she joked.

He made a hurt face,. "What? You don't like it?"

~ It's okay, if you were a lemon., ~ she shot back.

"Hey, I like to stand out in a crowd."

~ If you stood out any more they'd see you from orbit! ~

He opened his mouth to reply and then he chuckled, "Yeah, it is a little bright isn't it?"

~ Oh my, that's a first! ~ she laughed.

"What's a first?"

~ The great Admiral Al Calavicci admitting that his outfit isn't all that and a bag of chips! ~ she chortled.

* * *


	6. Part Six

DISCLAMER: All characters belong to Paramount Studios and Bellasarius productions. Used without permission but with lots of respect!

Into the Night  
Chapter Five

* * *

The Center  
May 24, 2001

Reika looked at him quizzically. ~ Are you okay, Admiral? ~ Her voice was soft and silky in his mind.

He puffed nervously on his cigar forming his reply in his mind, "Yeah, I'm alright. A little singed but nothing serious. You know what they say, you can't keep a good dog down!"

~ You look tired. ~

Al reached behind him and grabbed the chair he kept in the Imaging Chamber. He pulled it over to her and sat down beside the bed,. "You'd be tired too, keeping watch over two people constantly for two and a half weeks."

She frowned,. ~ Is that how long we've been out for? ~

"Longer actually." He looked away from her eyes to keep himself from falling down in them,. "I was out of it for about four days and then it took me another five to convince 'Bena and the other doctors that I was well enough to step into the Imaging Chamber."

She smiled, taking his breath away. ~ Well, I'm glad that you're here. How come I can see you? ~ she asked with one eyebrow raised.

He took out his handlink and started pressing in the question to Ziggy. He had to smack it a couple of times and looked up when he heard Reika giggling again. "What's so funny?"

~ You and that handlink have one heck of a love/hate relationship. ~

He grinned. "You've got to show them whose boss." The link squealed at him. "Ah, here we go. Ziggy says that because you, Sam, and I were tele teletubby?" He smacked the handlink. "That can't be right oh telepathically linked when the Accelerator went off. Some of Sam's and my mesons and neurons must've gotten crossed with yours. So you can see and hear me now."

~ I see. So I take it that there wasn't any serious damage done to Ziggy or the Imaging Chamber? ~

He shook his head,. "Nope. Actually Ziggy's been pretty cooperative lately." He looked at her mischievously. "I think it has to do with that extra gig of information Gushie and Tina found when they were running a diagnostic."

She grinned,. ~ Good! You found it! Did it make any sense at all to them? ~

He chuckled. "Actually, everyone thought that they were going a little crazy at first until I confirmed that you," he pointed to her, "were real and probably put the information there so they could find it."

~ So they were able to establish a link-up with Zadam then? ~

"I think getting in touch with him scared Ziggy out of some of her micro chips!" He grinned. "They've been swapping information back and forth so much over the past few weeks we've had to expand her memory storage."

~ So they get along okay? I wasn't sure if Zadam was going to be accepting of another computer like him but I was betting that he'd be happy to talk to her. ~

"To tell you the truth, I think Ziggy's falling in love with him." The handlink squealed, and he shook it playfully. "Well it's the truth, you big hunk of junk!"

She giggled,. ~ Good. I'm happy for the both of them. ~ She sighed and rolled over onto her back. ~ He only has a few people that he can interact with so I was worried about his manners being less than they should be. ~

Al could barely contain his smile when she presented to him the perfect opening,. "You didn't have anything to worry about, gorgeous. You programmed Zadam to be a perfect gentleman."

Her eyes grew wide,. ~ That That. Oh, boy, is he in trouble when I get my hands on him. So how much do you know about me? ~

Al laughed at the tone of dread in her voice,. "Well, he didn't tell us any of your deepest or darkest secrets."

~ Thank the gods for small miracles! ~ She grinned.

"Let's see here," he said as he started punching buttons on the link,. "Okay, your name is Reika Marie Cassandra Pollyanne Gwendolyn Connelly - boy, that's a mouthful - and you're older than you look." He grinned when he saw her frown. "Hey, don't get upset because Zadam told us your real age. I think it's neat that you're so well preserved, and I always did go for older women."

She blushed! She actually blushed!

He pushed a few more buttons, and continued, "Okay, you're a Commander in what you guys consider to be the military but not really in the military. You're part of some elite corps called the Warrior Corps that have psychic abilities that are boosted by biomechnical implants, which also keeps you young looking. You've been promoted three times over the past twenty years, but you've been demoted back down again for being a bit of a rebel. You've got enough Doctorates to wallpaper my office. You built Zadam for the Warrior Corps about ten years ago, but only you and a couple of others really know that Zadam is an artificial intelligence."

~ So I'm a brain, you want to make something of it? ~ she growled while smiling.

"I just think it's going to be a bit of a blow to Sam's ego when he finds out that you're probably smarter than he is!" he grinned.

~ Umm, Admiral? I don't think you need to mention that right away. ~

He frowned,. "Spoil sport!" When she frowned he relented. "Okay, okay, I won't mention it unless you do, how about that?"

~ Sounds good to me. So in all of that information that Zadam passed onto Ziggy, did you guys find out how the heck Sam and I ended up in the hospital? ~

The handlink squealed at him and he looked at it in annoyance,. "That's weird," he muttered.

~ What's weird? ~

"Ziggy just showed me the answer to your question, but I hadn't typed it in yet."

~ That's my fault. When I gave Ziggy all that information, part of it was instructions on how to create a neural interface to pick up on any telepathic signals sent into your mind. So basically she can hear my side of the conversation, too. She must have just fine tuned it so she can hear what I'm saying. ~

"But she's being so damn helpful! It's a little scary at times," he muttered as he read the screen. "Here we go. Apparently on your side of things, the Quantum energy was creating one heck of a lightshow around your house. Your neighbors called the cops who went to check it out. But your Warrior friends got wind of it, and when they learned it was your place that was setting off the fireworks, they hightailed it over there just as you two got back. They brought you and Sam here to what you call the Center. You're in the hospital wing."

~ I'm in the Center? ~ she asked, alarmed.

"Yup, we couldn't get a good lock on Sam until Zadam clued in that the electronic shields around this place was probably blocking our signals. So he and Ziggy worked it out so we could contact Sam. You two were in pretty rough shape when they brought you in. Ziggy says that you two were suffering from neural overload and you were picking up on everyone's thoughts telepathically until they started blocking you."

~ If I'm in the Center oh no Ziggy, please tell Zadam to have Jacob come and visit me, please? ~

The handlink blurped in response. "She says she will. What's up, Reika?"

~ We've got to get Sam out of here as soon as possible. ~

"Why?"

~ Because I think that Sam's in danger. ~

"What do you mean in danger?!" Al yelped.

Reika struggled to get off of the bed,. ~ If he stays here, he'll never get home. He'll never get home to be with his wife and son unless we get him out of here! ~ Her voice had a frantic tone to it.

She slid off of the bed and Al could see her shiver when he bare feet hit the cold floor,. "I really don't think you should be getting up so soon," he chastised her, pushing his fear to the back of his mind.

~ I have to check on Sam. ~

"No you don't, all you have to do right now is get back in that bed and get well!" he said, waving his arms in frustration.

~ He's my responsibility, Admiral,. I have to make sure he's all right with my own eyes. ~ She reached behind her head and with a click withdrew some wires that were attached there. 

Al could see how wobbly her legs were. He frantically typed into Ziggy to hurry along that Jacob person. 

"Commander, I order you to get back in that bed!" he commanded, playing his last card.

~ I hate to disobey a direct order, but I'm afraid you don't have any authority over me, Admiral. Not only are you from another universe but you're Navy, not Army, ~ she replied, amused as she took a wobbly step towards the door.

The door swung open and framed in the doorway was a man who reminded Al of some of the Marines he'd been friends with. His shoulders almost touched the sides of the doorway and his head brushed the top of it. He wore a white tee shirt over black jeans with brown cowboy boots. His hair was black with silver strands shot through it, he had a black goatee, and hazel eyes.

"Rei! What the hell do you think you're doing?" the man boomed in a deep voice when he saw her standing there.

"Going to check on my friend," she said aloud. "Can you give me a hand?"

To Al she said, ~ That's Jacob, he's a good friend of mine. Don't let him scare you cause he's usually all bark. ~

Jacob leaned against the doorway, barring her way. "I dunno, The docs say it was okay?"

Reika smiled. "They didn't say I couldn't get up."

Jacob chuckled. "Uh huh, so basically you haven't asked, as usual."

She sighed, "Are you going to help me or am I going to have to crawl?"

"Put her back to bed!" Al yelled.

~ You stay out of this. ~ She shot him a look.

Al grinned. "I know you're worried, beautiful, but Sam's okay. Ziggy will let us know if he comes out of it."

"I heard that your 'friend' was still pretty much out of it Rei. Why don't you get back into bed, ok? I'll keep an eye on him and let you know when he wakes up," Jacob added.

"See? I'm not the only one!" Al pointed out.

"Glargh this isn't fair," she muttered,. "I have to check on him, Jake!"

"Why?" Jacob asked, coming across the room to her.

"Do you remember that list of 'What If's' we made out of fun last year?" she asked him.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Do you remember number 35?"

Jacob put one arm around her waist to support her before she fell down,. "Uh huh."

"It isn't a 'what if' anymore, Jake."

The big man stood perfectly still for a moment,. "You mean it's true? That man in there really is Sam Beckett?"

~ Yes. ~ she said so both of them could hear her while she was actually shaking her head.

Jacob swept her off of her feet and carried her through the door. Al pushed some buttons and disappeared.

He reappeared half a second later in another room, almost identical in every way to the room Reika had just left except that lying on the bed was the very still form of Sam Beckett.

"Hey, kid," Al called to him, "Reika's on her way over here. You gotta wake up and see the skin tight number she's wearing! Ooh boy!" He studied his friend's face,. "Damn, I thought that might get to you, even if it meant you rounding on me with those Boy Scout morals of yours."

A minute later the door to the room opened and in came Jacob carrying Reika with Dr. Simms following along behind.

"Commander Connelly, you really aren't well enough to be doing this!" the doctor was saying.

"Look out, Sam! Here comes Dr. Frankenstein!" Al joked. He could see Reika put her face into Jacob's shoulder to keep from laughing.

"Dr. Simms, the Commander appreciates your concern but she is responsible for Dr. Beckett. She only wants to check on him," Jacob said lightly,. "I assure you she'll be just fine. I'll make sure she goes back to her room when she gets tired."

~ Any change, Admiral? ~ Reika asked as Jacob lowered her gingerly to her feet.

"Nope, still out cold."

"Commander, I must protest over this! You should be in bed!" Dr. Simms said angrily when she stumbled taking a step over to Sam's bed.

She looked quickly over to him,. "Doctor, your protests are noted. Now leave me." Something changed about her,; either she got taller or the room got smaller, but she seemed to fill it with her presence. 

"But," the doctor protested weakly.

"Leave!" she ordered.

Simms practically ran out of the room. When the door slammed shut behind him, Jacob started to laugh as Al stared at her stunned.

"Oh, Rei! That was awesome!" Jacob patted her on the back.

She grinned. "I hate doctors like that."

She slowly made her way around to the side of Sam's bed and put her hand tenderly on his forehead. "Hey, you," she said softly, "I know you're in there, Sam. I can feel you."

The handlink squawled. "His brainwaves are a little stronger," Al told her, hoping that she could get through to Sam.

She nodded but didn't take her eyes off of his face, "His pathways are pretty much crisped. I'll see what I can do."

"Rei?" Jacob said softly, "You think you're up to this?"

"I'm surprised that they haven't had a Healer in to see him, Jake. I didn't think the Council could be so cruel." A single tear rolled down her cheek,. "To keep him locked up in his own mind that's barbarous!"

Al looked up,. "What do you mean?"

She sighed and looked at him sadly. ~ I don't know how much of our history you've read, but it wasn't until a few hundred years ago that we've started to achieve a sort of peace. We achieved a high level of technology fairly early, over a thousand years ago, but unlike your universe, our psychic abilities didn't diminish with the advancements of technology and science. It just made us a lot more dangerous. One nation was constantly at war with another. Then almost a thousand years ago the whole world went mad. We almost destroyed ourselves. Micro-nations sprung up all over the place that were lead by what we call Technomancers, people who had strong psychic abilities that which were boosted by technology. They were constantly at war with each other to steal any advancement in psionic technology. Then six hundred years ago the regular people, those who had little or no ability, began to get fed up with the Technomancers and started to rebel. The rebellion gained a lot of support in a very short amount of time and the Technomancers and their families had to go into hiding or be killed by the rebellion. In the process, the world started to shun technology, sort of a reverse evolution, and most of the high technology was either hidden or destroyed. For two hundred years they hunted the Technomancers and three hundred years ago the last one was officially destroyed. Once she was dead, technology started to slowly come back and people started to rebuild our civilization. The Technomancers were moved into myth and legend with a creative re-writing of history. From there on our history pretty much parallels yours. But what most people don't know is that the descendants of the Technomancers were still around and met in secret. With over six hundred years of selected breeding and careful concealment we've become almost as strong as we were. Unfortunately that's too strong. ~

"So," Al prompted.

~ The government knows about us and tolerates us as a natural resource to be exploited. If they knew just how many of us there really are it would probably start the extermination all over again. But they have a right to fear us. The majority of us keep the old ways in which we were the masters of our world. The Elite. Our clan hierarchy still runs off of it. Most of them resent the fact that the government only tolerates us and look for chances to gain a foothold back into power. ~ She sighed. ~ But now they have Sam. I'm afraid that they won't be helpful in getting him back home. I made a mistake in telling them the whole story. I really thought we were in the special wing of one of the regular hospitals. I know my kinsmen, Admiral, they'll keep him here and force him to build another Quantum Accelerator so they can use it and change the past to their favor. ~

"You've got to be kidding me!" Al's horror was overwhelming,. "Sam would never go along with that!"

~ I doubt that Sam would have any say in the matter. ~

Al's handlink started squealing like crazy,. "Ziggy's having conniptions now."

~ Don't worry, Ziggy, unlike my kinsmen I don't hold with the delusions of grandeur from years gone by. There's a few of us who'd rather go for acceptance than domination. As a direct genetic descendant of the last Technomancer it gave me opportunities that most would never have. I have the resources and contacts to get Sam to safety. I just need to get him out of here. ~ Al could see a light in her eyes start to glow brighter. ~ I'm starting to get a sense now of why Sam ended up with me, and some of the how. I think that probably one of the other more powerful ones like me decided it was a good thing to try going into the past, so he may have found a weak spot and got in touch with the Evil Leaper Project in your universe. They must have helped him or her track Sam until he was close enough to yank him through to here. Whatever force that's been leaping him around must've gotten him away from them and sent him to me. ~ She grinned. ~ I must say I'm flattered. ~

* * *


	7. Part Seven

Into The Night  
Chapter Six

* * *

Al punched aggressively at the handlink, as he kept one eye on the beautiful woman, watched the read-out of Sam's brainwaves, and chewed nervously on the end of his cigar. So far, this leap gave him the creepy-crawly feeling that they were in BIG trouble this time. One of the things he hadn't told Reika was that the lock they had was on her brainwaves, not Sam's.

It had been a shock to everyone when Al had centered on her when they first brought the Imaging Chamber online. Zadam had done a search through the hospital records and informed Ziggy which room Sam was in. When Al had finally centered on him they managed to get only weak readings from Sam. The doctors back at the Project had poured through copies of the tests that Zadam had downloaded into Ziggy and were afraid that there might be irreparable brain damage. Al could only hope that she could do something that would bring Sam back to himself, so they could find a way to bring him back home where he belonged.

"Sam?" Reika called softly. "Come on, Sam, time to wake up now."

Al blinked in astonishment as a soft white glow surrounded her. It flowed out of her and surrounded Sam. The handlink bleeped questioningly at him when it registered a mild peak in Sam's brainwaves.

"Sam, I know you can hear me, I need you to wake up now." She looked up at Al. ~ Talk to him, Admiral. ~

"Hey, kid, you gotta wake up, okay? Reika says you've got to wake up and get the hell out of here so you can come home to us. Donna's waiting for you. You know she's been here every day since we got a lock on you? And your son needs to meet his Dad, Sam," Al babbled nervously.

Reika nodded. "That got a response. Did Donna tell you what your son's name is? It's Jonathan Albert Beckett, Sam, named after your father and your rogue friend."

Al laughed. "Hey, c'mon, Sam, you've gotta wake up and help me defend myself against this woman! She knows me too well, and I can't get away with anything!"

"Sam?" Al's heart did a couple of flip-flops as Reika suddenly looked down at Sam.

Al almost shouted with joy when he saw Sam's eyelids flicker. "Wakey, wakey, kid! Come on!"

"Sam, I know you're in there," Reika murmured softly, as the white glow around them intensified slightly.

"Admiral!" Gushie's voice rang out through the Imaging Chamber. "We're beginning to get some strange readings from both Dr. Beckett and Commander Connelly."

"What do you mean by 'strange'?" Al asked.

"It's almost like the ones we get when Dr. Beckett is about to leap, sir."

"What do you mean 'about to leap'?"

The alarms on the monitors that were hooked into Sam started going off all around them. Al looked up from the handlink, alarmed, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Sam start to slowly shimmer with a familiar blue-white glow.

"Come on, Sam!" he crowed. "Leap outta this crazy universe! Gushie, have Ziggy fire up Sammy's newest retrieval program. We'll try to catch him just as he leaps out."

"I don't think that would be a good idea Admiral. If the retrieval program doesn't work, Dr. Beckett could start leaping around in Commander Connelly's universe." 

"WHAT?!" Al bellowed.

"Ziggy says it's a 72 percent possibility that if Dr. Beckett leaps and the retrieval program fails we may lose him forever," Gushie replied frantically.

"Oh boy, I knew there was going to be a catch," Al growled.

"Rei!" he heard Jake yell.

Al looked up from Sam to see Reika being slowly engulfed in the same Quantum light as his friend. She had her eyes closed and her brow was furrowed in concentration.

"Reika! Get away from him!" Al shouted. "He'll take you with him!"

Her eyes snapped open and she looked down at herself dazedly. 

"Oh no," she yelped. "I'm!"

Al looked on, terrified, as the Quantum glow crept up her arms to surround her in a halo of blue-white fire. The monitors that were hooked into Sam started to overload one by one as the leap process slowly overtook both of them. 

"GUSHIE!" Al bellowed. "We've got problems!"

Reika's back arched as the glow intensified around the both of them. She looked at Al with terror filled eyes.

"Admiral?"

The glow around her and Sam was almost blinding.

"Hang on to him, Reika!" Al called helplessly. "At least the two of you will leap together! Gushie! The retrieval program! NOW!"

There was a blinding flash and Al found himself staring at the blue walls of an empty Imaging Chamber. He punched in the code to open the door.

--  
Stallions Gate, NM  
May 30, 2001  
11:42hrs

"Dammit!" Al cursed as he came down the ramp. "Did we get them?" 

Gushie and Sammy Jo were peering at the display in front of them. "The program is running now, Admiral," Sammy replied.

"Lock on confirmed, first stage of retrieval in progress," Ziggy reported.

Everyone turned as one to the Accelerator Chamber to see it glowing faintly. 

"Come on," Al whispered. "Work this time!"

The door to the chamber automatically shut, cutting off their view of the inside.

"Second stage of retrieval initiated."

Al stood with his arms crossed, staring at the closed door of the Chamber. "How much longer?" he asked.

"Not much longer, a few more seconds and we should know for sure," Sammy Jo said. "Although"

Al looked over at her. "Although what?" he prompted.

"It really wasn't configured to bring back two people." 

"Wonderful," Al muttered. 

The whine from the Accelerator started to get louder.

"Third and final stage initiated," reported Ziggy. After a moment she cried, "Incoming travelers! Medical team to the Control Room at once! I repeat, incoming travelers! Medical team to the Control Room at once!"

There was a muffled thump from inside the chamber. Everyone in the Control Room seemed to hold their breath expectantly as the door slowly opened. It opened about two inches and then jammed. Smoke began to escape from the chamber. Suddenly, there came two loud bangs from inside, accompanied by bright flashes that could be seen through the small opening, and more smoke billowed out. Al heard someone scream from inside.

"We've got to get them out of there!" he yelled as he rushed over to the door.

The two marines who were stationed at the door to the Control Room ran up the ramp beside him and joined Al in his efforts. He heard a couple of more loud bangs from inside and blue electric fire snapped out of the opening between his feet. Al danced out of the way and pressed himself up against the side wall. Adrenaline pumped through his body as cold fear gripped him.

"Accelerator overload imminent!" Ziggy said loudly. "All personnel evacuate the building! I repeat, evacuate at once! Get my father out of there, Admiral!"

Al peeled himself off of the wall as others came up the ramp and joined Al and the Marines. Together they started to slowly slide the heavy door open. When they got it open a couple of more inches, Al knelt down and looked inside, peering against the smoke that billowed outwards. He could just make out two forms huddled together in the back.

He coughed as the smoke stung his throat and lungs. "Sam!" he called through the opening. "Come on!"

Al reached his arm desperately into the Chamber. "Sam, please!"

The larger of the two reached out towards him slowly. "Al?" he heard faintly.

"Yeah, buddy, it's me!" he called. "Come on, you gotta get out of there!"

A ball of blue white electricity burst out of the Accelerator Ring and hovered ominously in the middle of the Chamber, blocking his view of Sam.

"Damnit, Sam!" Al hollered. "Get your butt over here!"

To those pulling on the door, he growled, "Get it open! We've gotta get to them!"

Al watched the ball spin slowly in the middle of the Chamber with growing apprehension. Little bolts of blue lightening rippled across its surface with increasing intensity. Smoke poured out of the glowing ring making it even harder to make out what was going on inside. The door inched open a little more and Al struggled to worm himself under it.

"Overload in 1.75 minutes! All personnel evacuate the building!" Ziggy called out.

The ball started to pulsate, getting larger by the second. There was another bang, and another scream rang out, followed by an intense flash of blue-white light. Al pushed at the bottom edge of the door with everything he had as fear pumped more adrenaline through his system. When they had it open about a foot, Al rolled under the opening into the chamber. He edged himself carefully along the wall seeking them out through the lung choking smoke. After he had made a complete circuit of the chamber he came out of the door, coughing.

"They're not in there!" he choked out between coughs.

"Overload in thirty seconds!" Ziggy sounded almost hysterical. 

"Close it!" someone yelled.

"Ziggy! Backup plan alpha!" Sammy yelled at the same time.

"Backup in progress," replied Ziggy. "Overload in twenty-five seconds."

The door inched slowly closed under their combined strength.

"Twenty seconds"

The door to the Accelerator closed with a thud.

"Fifteen fourteen thirteen"

"Twelve eleven ten" 

"Everybody out!" Al bellowed.

"Eight seven"

Everyone ran for the Control Room door. Al stayed behind making sure everyone got out.

"Five"

"Four"

"Did they leap, Ziggy?" Al asked, sprinting towards the door.

"Yes. Two"

Al launched himself at the slowly closing door of the Control Room.

"One. Good-bye, father."

--

Stallions Gate, NM  
Project Quantum Leap  
May 31, 2001  
00:08hrs

  
The sky around the top secret compound was filled with emergency military helicopters. The scene on the ground looked like something out of a war movie as the pilots carefully landed their vehicles away from the mass of confusion and smoke coming out of an opening in the mountain. A smaller streamlined helicopter landed beside its larger brethren with little trouble. As soon as it's skids touched ground, the door on the side was thrown hastily open allowing its passenger to disembark. A tall man in a naval uniform with captains stripes stepped quickly down and jogged away from the helicopter. He paused just outside of its whirling blades, turned, and waved gratefully at the pilot who in turn waved back. The helicopter took off as quickly as it had landed and headed back west from where it had come.

The officer took in the scene in front of the mountain and quickly snagged a passing ensign.

"Do you know where Admiral Calavicci is?" he shouted over the sounds of the buzzing helicopters.

The young ensign looked at him, visibly startled. "No, sir! You may want to try the tent over there." He pointed to a hastily erected tent just off to one side of the mountain.

"Thanks!" the captain said and let the ensign go his way.

He quickly jogged through the crowds of military and scientific personnel. Every step filled him with apprehension as more and more of the scientists he passed sported wounds. He scanned the passing faces for seven familiar ones as he went, hoping that he would find them. As he moved around one crowd, he caught sight of a familiar profile.

"Tina!" he shouted desperately to get her attention.

The young woman turned at the sound of her name, and he winced when he saw the blood on her clothes.

"Tina!" he shouted again, pushing his way through a knot of dazed personnel.

Recognition came to her eyes. "Jim!" she squealed. She started shoving through the crowd to get to him.

They both stumbled into each others arms as the crowds around them suddenly gave way. Tina threw her arms around him with a wail that tore through his heart. He held her tenderly until she could speak coherently again.

"It's okay Tina," he murmured, not taking his eyes off of the crowd that passed by them, hoping to see the rest he sought.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of another familiar figure walking dazedly through the crowd. Jim nudged Tina who turned and saw the same figure.

"GUSHIE!" she screamed. 

In an instant, she was out of his arms and dragging him through the crowd to her husband who watched them approach, uncomprehending. Tina reached him first, and threw her arms around her dazed and confused husband. He stood perfectly still for a second and then folded like a rag doll in her arms. The two crumbled to the ground and held each other desperately. Jim scanned the crowd and saw a medic only two feet away from them. He savagely reached through the crowd and grabbed the medic by the arm.

"YOU!" he snarled at the startled medic. "You stay here with them, understand?"

"B-but sir!" the medic stammered.

"STAY!" Jim roared,. "When you see other medics you keep them here! I'll have five more to bring you."

The medic nodded fearfully and knelt down beside Tina and Gushie. Jim again scanned the nearby crowd for familiar faces and spotted two among the sea of faces.

"Verbena! Sammy!" he yelled as he shoved his way to them.

The two women didn't hear him as they were swept past him in the moving throng. Jim swore as he pushed his way into the crowd once again to catch up with them.

"Verbena!" he hollered as loud as he could, floundering in the chaos around him.

The dark-skinned doctor turned as this time she heard him. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw him pushing his way to her.

"Jim!" she called back.

Her companion turned and dull green eyes stared in surprise as he swept them both into a gentle hug. Sammy trembled in his arms and 'Bena seemed like she was choking back sobs.

"What happened?" he asked as he began to lead them back to where he had left Tina and Gushie. "Where's Donna and Al?"

"I I" Sammy tried to answer.

"The last time I saw Donna, she was heading to the living quarters to get John." Verbena answered. "I don't know what happened to Al. I was in my office when the evacuation order came, and then all hell broke loose!"

"The the the Accelerator blew," Sammy gasped out finally. "We had him, Jim! He was back!"

Jim looked down at her in surprise. "You mean you managed to retrieve Sam? Then it blew?"

Sammy nodded furiously. "We had him, bbut we couldn't get to him. The whole system started to crash. He was trapped in the Chamber!"

"Dear god!" Jim murmured.

The crowd around them started to thin and Jim led them over to where Tina and Gushie were being attended by not only a whole host of medics, but also by armed Marine guards who kept the crowd from closing in around them. As Jim led them into the ring, he almost stumbled when he saw Admiral Berekson waiting for them.

"I heard you managed to con one of my pilots into bringing you out here, Captain," the Admiral grumbled.

Sammy and Verbena were swarmed over by the waiting medics, leaving Jim to face the Admiral alone.

Jim watched his friends -- no, family -- being attended to by the medics for a moment before replying.

"Begging the Admiral's pardon, but this is family business as well as military, Sir." Captain Jim Bonnick faced his superior officer and looked him straight in the eye. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Sir, I have to find my sister-in-law, nephew, and Admiral Calavicci. Afterwards, you can court-martial me for disobeying a direct order."

The Admiral roared in laughter, startling the hell out of Jim. "You've got guts, boy!"

"Yessir," Jim stammered.

"Well, get along, Captain!" the Admiral growled with a grin. "You could probably find Dr. Eleese and Calavicci faster than anyone else I could send."

Jim didn't wait for him to repeat the order and took off in a jog through the rapidly thinning crowd.

* * *

Continued In: Another Stitch in Time!


End file.
